Griffin Silverwing
Griffin is Shade and Marina's son and Ariel and Cassiel's grandson. He was born an unknown time after the events of Sunwing. Griffin is a hybrid bat: part Brightwing, and part Silverwing. Due to his mixed lineage, Griffin is physically unique as compared to the other Silverwing newborns: he has dark fur with bright stripes across his chest and back, his wings are longer, and his ears are shell-shaped like Marina's. Personality Griffin suffers from his father's fame, as he thinks that everyone expect him being a hero like Shade. But unlike his father, Griffin is timid and shy, so he hates the idea that he is nothing like him, although he knows it. Due to his mixed lineage Griffin is self-conscious and feels like an outcast. Griffin isn't very popular among other newborns. Actually, Griffin's only real friend is Luna, a newborn who likes Griffin and is not put off by his wary attitude. Griffin is a constantly worrying over anything and everything and his overactive imagination provides him with colourful answers to the question 'what's the worst that can happen?'. For example, he drinks only dew from leaves, not water from streams, as he is afraid that he may drown or a huge fish may jump from the water and eat him. Griffin has a habit to reason aloud when he face any troubles and he holds back from behaving recklessly (unlike Shade). He is also described as being not a good flier, as his wings are too long to maneuver among tree branches. During his journey through the underworld to the Tree, Griffin gained self-confidence and faith in himself. History At the begining of Firewing, Griffin, Luna and some other young bats discovered a group of human campers in the forest, and Griffin decided to steal some of the camp's fire for his colony, hoping that the act will impress his father. Griffin managed to set fire to a twig, but his plan went horribly wrong when Griffin accidentally drop the twig and Luna was set on fire and horribly burned. Upon discovering that Luna's injuries may be fatal, a guilt-stricken Griffin flied off into the lower levels of Tree Haven. While hiding the Tree's lower levels an earthquake blocked Griffin's way out, and he was drawn into the Underworld. In the Underworld, Griffin discovered a strange oasis where all was unreal and a colony of bats that are unaware that they are dead. The bats were wary of Griffin, because as he was still alive he appeared to glow to them. Griffin discovered that the recently deceased Luna has become a member of the colony and has no memory of him. Fortunately for Griffin, a group of Pilgrims appeared at the colony to try and convince the colonists that they are dead. One of the Pilgrims was Frieda, a former elder of Griffin's colony. Frieda recognized Griffin as Shade and Marina's son and told him of a gigantic, incandescent Tree which supposedly sends dead bats that enter it to another, more enjoyable afterlife. Frieda believed that the Tree will send Griffin back home, as he was alive and not dead. Griffin decided to follow Frieda's advice and travel to the Tree, but refused to leave without bringing Luna with him. Frieda provided Griffin with a sound map to the Tree and then left to preach to more dead bats, warning him that it is difficult for many bats to accept their deaths. Griffin tried to get Luna to remember him, but was attacked by other bats who were afraid of him. After this, Luna remembered him, but has no memory about her previous life. Feeling guilty for Luna's death, Griffin lied that she died because a lightning hit a branch that Luna was nearby, and the burning branch fell on her. The two bats began their travel to the Tree. They traveled peacefully untill they stopped to rest on the Cactus, as strange sprouts tied Luna's legs and Goth attacked them. However, Griffin easely fought off Goth because Griffin is still alive. He managed to free Luna and fled with her, leaving Goth behind. Griffin and Luna eventually found a cavern, which contained an odd light. Griffin didn't want to enter it as it wasn't on Frieda's sound map, but Luna persuaded him to do it. In the cavern Griffin realised that the light traped dead bats in the cavern by causing them to see their deepest desires, but it was too late: Luna became trapped by an illusion of her old life, but Griffin was unaffected by the light, presumably because he was alive. In this cavern Griffin was found by Shade, who followed him to the Underworld. Interestingly, Griffin believed that Shade was actually an illusion the light was creating, but Shade managed to convince his son that he was real. However as Shade began to remove Luna from the cavern, he was attacked by Goth, and all four bats fell into a black river that flowed through the cavern. Griffin and Luna were separated with Shade, but found by his friends - Yorick, Nemo, Murk and Java, who convinced the young bats to continue on their journey to the Tree with them, hoping that Shade will find them. Soon the pilgrims plus Luna and Griffin encountered another obstacle: a waterfall! While passing it Griffin was separated from the group and attacked by Goth, who wounded him badly. Fortunately, Griffin was lucky enough to escape from Goth and rejoin with Luna. They discovered another colony of dead bats that were aware that they are dead, but chosen to spend the rest of eternity contemplating philosophy rather than enter the Tree. The bats' leader says that Griffin will soon die from his shoulder injury and that he and Luna can stay with them once Griffin does die. Griffin confessed that he was responsible for Luna's death, and she angrily lashed out at Griffin, saying that she wanted his life, and bit at his shoulder. Griffin hissed instinctively at Luna which shocked her out of her anger. Griffin forgave Luna for her assault and realized that he did not want to die in the Underworld. The two then set off for the Tree again. When they reached the Tree Goth, disguised as Shade, reached them too. Griffin was fooled by the disguise and killed by Goth, who devoured Griffin's life and then entered the Tree. Shade apologized to Griffin for failing to save him and then told Griffin to stay where he was and, before Griffin realised what he was going to do, commited suicide by allowing himself to fall to the ground, which killed him and released his own life force, which he wished for Griffin to take. Both Griffin and Luna were able to share Shade's life force and return to life. Griffin apologized to his father for all the trouble he has caused; Shade told him not to blame himself and that he was proud of his son, and that even if Griffin was scared, he was brave because he did things even though he was scared. Shade, Griffin, Luna and their allies all entered the Tree. Despite Griffin's efforts to hold on to his father, the two were separated and Griffin and Luna returned to the Upper World and to Tree Haven, where they met by Marina, who was overjoyed to see that Griffin was alive. Unbeknownst to them, Shade, who was also present in an invisible and immaterial form, merged himself with Marina and Griffin, thus experiencing their joy at being reunited. Trivia *Griffin's name comes from the griffin, a blend between two animals: an eagle and a lion. A fitting name for a Silverwing-Brightwing hybrid (though he thinks not because his mother mentioned that griffins are strong and brave, of which Griffin believes he is neither). *Griffin imagined his father as a huge bat with wings that blotted out the sun, but learned his father was born a runt, but was still brave. That made Griffin feel worse because he gets scared about so many things and he's not a runt. * Category:Fictional bats Category:Silverwing Characters Category:Deceased Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Firewing Category:Bats